Who's the enemy?

The military budget in the United States is sacrosanct. To suggest cuts in the military budget attracts expressions of horror in some quarters.

Below is a chart outlining the comparative military spending budgets around the world:


(Note: US Military spending does not include special appropriations on the order of $100Billion annually for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Image Source: Global Issues - Military Spending.)

Interestingly enough, not a single member of the "Axes of Evil" registers on the radar screen yet, we're embroiled in two wars and being fought to a standstill in both. It's been suggested elsewhere that the Iraqi insurgency has been running on a budget on the order of $250 Million ... that's Million, not Billion.

A military that has a budget of between $700 and $800 Billion, fought to a standstill by a bunch of people with AK-47s, RPGs and home made, roadside bombs for seven years?

A military budget that is roughly equal to all the other countries on the planet ... combined?

Something is dramatically wrong here.

Who are we preparing to fight? Perhaps more to the point, who's preparing to fight with us?